Page 61 of Texas-Sized Secrets

“Cat will be busy this morning. I hope she’s up to it.” Mona’s soft smile turned into a hard, straight line as they drove past the diner and turned the corner to the body shop.

The two trucks parked out to the side of the shop yesterday weren’t there this morning, and the place looked deserted.

Reed parked the truck around the side less visible from the road and climbed down. Mona followed. After a thorough search of the exterior, Reed dug a pocketknife from his jeans and jimmied the lock on the shop door. With only a little effort, he opened the lock and was stepping through.

Mona’s gaze narrowed. “What did you say you did in Chicago?”

“I was a cop.” He pushed the door inward and stepped out of the bright sunshine into the dingier office. “You coming?”

With a three-sixty glance darted around the street, Mona slipped in behind Reed. “Cop, huh? What are they training in cop school nowadays?”

“Whatever it takes.” A smile lifted the corners of his lips as he entered the dark interior. After a quick scan of the papers scattered across Wayne’s desk, Reed glanced up.

Mona had her hand clamped over her nose and mouth.

“Smell getting to you?”

She dropped her hand, her lips twisted. “How can you stand it? Last time I was here, it was all I could do not to throw up.”

“I’m not pregnant.” He carefully arranged the papers into their original disarray and moved toward the shop’s bay area. “You want to wait outside in the truck?”

She straightened her shoulders. “No. Two pair of eyes have to be better than one.”

Inside the shop, two vehicles were in various stages of repair. One was a black sport-utility vehicle, the front masked and taped with only the heavy-duty grille exposed, the paint chipped in one spot. The other was a silver economy car with the rear bumper removed.

Reed leaned into the open window of the sport-utility vehicle and spotted a blue light fixture, the kind used by unmarked police cars. He circled to the back of the vehicle for the license plate number, but the plate had been removed.

Mona leaned into the passenger window and called out, “It’s Parker Lee’s unmarked car.”

“How do you know it’s his and not one of the other deputies’?”

“I dropped cherry soda on the floorboard a while back.” She pointed inside. “The stain’s still there.”

Reed stared at her instead of the rug. “And why were you in the passenger seat?”

Mona walked to the front of the vehicle.

For a moment, Reed thought she wouldn’t answer his question.

“I had a temporary lapse in sanity and dated the man.” She stared across the hood of the truck at Reed. “What can I say? It was a mistake, I realized it and that’s the end.”

“Is Parker Lee your baby’s father?”

Mona’s gaze dropped to greasy concrete, her shoulders hunching. Then she pushed herself straight, her glance meeting his. “No one is going to take my baby away from me. Do you understand? Not Parker Lee or anyone else.”

“You can’t keep your pregnancy a secret, Mona. People are bound to talk. And when a baby shows up at the Rancho Linda, someone’s bound to do the math.”

“I can’t let him take my baby from me.”

“Why would he?”

“You know Parker Lee. He’s a small-minded, mean man. I just didn’t see it soon enough. If he knew I was pregnant with his child, he’d take my baby, my ranch and everything I own.” She waded through the tools and parts to Wayne’s office. “I won’t let that happen.”

“Unfortunately, the legal system thinks a father has the right to know.”

“To hell with the legal system!” She spun to face him, her eyes rounded. “You aren’t going to tell him, are you?”

Reed shook his head. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

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